This invention relates to video control apparatus and method and a storage medium, and more particularly, to video control apparatus and method and a storage medium for transferring an input video image, obtained in accordance with a request from a remote client, to the client.
The assignee of the present invention has already filed several systems where a client can obtain a video image by connecting with a remote camera server (device which controls a camera and transfers an obtained video image to a client) via an existing network.
The camera server uses a general-purpose device such as a personal computer and a work station. A card (or board) having a video capture function is attached to the device, and a video camera is connected to the card. Further, to control the camera angle (e.g., panning, tilting and zooming) of the video camera at the camera server by the client, the assignee of the present invention has proposed a system where a camera device, placed on a predetermined panhead, has a variable zoom value, and a signal to control the camera angle is outputted from the camera server main body to the camera device via a predetermined interface (e.g., a serial interface generally included by a personal computer).
On the other hand, the client also comprises a general device such as a personal computer and a work station.
In the above systems, it is possible to confirm a video image obtained by a remote camera, however, regarding respective displayed objects in the video image, information other than the video image of the objects cannot be obtained.
To solve the above problem, the present invention provides a video-image control apparatus having video-image input means, which transfers a video image, inputted in accordance with a request from a remote client, to the client, comprising: generating means for generating an additional image based on pre-stored information corresponding to an object in the video image inputted by the video-image input means; combining means for combining the additional image generated by the generating means, with the video image inputted by the video-image input means; and transfer means for transferring an image obtained from combining by the combining means, to the client.